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I love my girls. It’s amazing how three very different people can all come together somehow and it just, works. Kristen and Katie W are definitely my girls and we have some good times together. One of those times was several months ago, during a planned get together at my place. This was not just for the 101 but also a good excuse to get together and catch up.

And, I will say this is definitely something I want to do more often on my own and with friends. A Meal Prep Day. It was not difficult, it was fun, and it was so practical. We did a little bit of prep, deciding what kinds of full dishes we wanted to make, and what other things we wanted to put together. We also decided who would bring what. Ultimately, none of us ended up spending a ton of money, but we came away with tons of food and ideas.

Some of what we did was full meals, which we split into bags for freezing. We also prepped a spice mixture that we could all split, so none of us had a ton of this new spice, and we were able to split the cost (thanks to Kristen who found this, guided us, and provided most of the ingredients!).

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this awesome event, but I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is having some trouble with meal planning and prepping during the week. Things are always better together!

The other night I needed a chocolate fix. Ever have evenings like that? Or maybe weeks like that? Any who… I was certainly having one of those days. But, I’m also trying to eat healthier, get back in shape, and trim down a bit. So, I turned to my new favorite cookbook from Hungry Girl. And this, dear readers, has quickly become one of my new favorite recipes, not only because they are delicious but they are ridiculously easy to make! Let’s start with the ingredients.

Yup, that’s it. A box of Devils Food Cake mix and a can of pumpkin. The end. Are you starting to get why I love this recipe? Ok, so take your mix and you can of pumpkin and throw them into a large bowl. Now start mixing. I’m not going to sugar coat this… the mixin’ ain’t easy. This is a thick batter, but don’t be tempted to add anything else, and don’t give up. You will eventually go from this:

To this:

Wa La! Once you’ve got it all nice and mixed up, divide the batter evenly into 12, lined muffin cups. I’ve never tried mini muffins, but when I do I’ll let you know how those turn out. Now, place the muffin pans into the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. The end result?

A chocolate treat that has less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff!

I have a couple food related goals on this 101 list including meal planning, meal prepping with the girls, taking a cooking class, keeping a food journal, and trying new foods. I have a ton of inspiration for this:

Plus there are all sorts of awesome recipes popping up here, here, and here.

There is no lack of ideas for my food-related endeavors. There are recipes and techniques and ingredient ideas all over the place. Including all over my table.

I have cookbooks, I have a binder, I have loose magazine pages, I have e-mail printouts, I have notecards. Yikes! This “system” does not lend itself to organized meal planning.

So what’s the answer? There are so many awesome ideas and recipes and I want to keep track of them somehow for later use, since I figure trying to do them all at one time may not be such a good plan. How do you keep track of your recipes?